I have purchased a 1999 Ford Diesel E350 diesel 7.3L with 341,000 miles. I took the van for a 5 miles test drive and it drove very well. I decided to buy the vehicle from my work for $250. After replacing 4 ball joints, 2 universal u-joints, I was ready to take it home. When I got on a highway driving about 4 miles vehicle reduced speed and power dramatically. I noticed a lot of smoke coming from exhaust very bad for about 30 seconds than exhaust cleared up. Smoke color was white and gray. Engine started shaking when stepping on gas pedal, lack of power. It does not want to go over 40 mph. Once in a while smoke will come through the exhaust for view seconds. At idle has a small roughs shake then the shake goes away. When I start driving the van it has no power and shakes upon acceleration. I think I might have a fuel injector problem. There is no check engine light on. Does any one have any suggestions, ideas and etc. I would love to fix this problem. Thank you for your time

 

Welcome to FTE. There are a lot of things it could be, but lets start with cheap and relatively easy stuff first. My gut says, based on your description, it could be the Under Valve Cover Harness(UVCH). They are notorious for working their way loose and would cause the symptoms you are describing.

They hook up to the glow plugs and the injectors and can have intermittent connection problems if they are loose. The first place to look is where the wiring harness clips together with them. It is at the middle of the upper edge of the valve cover. Check there first, if that is connected, then you are going to have to pull the valve covers off and look underneath and see if they are connected there. It isn't too terrible on the trucks, I have never messed with the vans so I can't say how hard it is on them to get to.

Btw, $250 you STOLE that thing believe me.

 

X 2 on the UVCH! Don't drive like that for too long, the side that's working gets real hot exhaust gas temperatures. You're almost there with the getting a nice rig, but I don't suggest a 50-cent mod. I suggest new OEM wiring harnesses from Riffraff Diesel (Dorman harnesses have a dubious reputation). Inspect the pins in the valve cover gasket (inside and out)... I've seen those melt.

That van is worth a ton of money, just for parts. The injector cores alone are $800. Great score!

 

I had similar problems and it turned out to be the fuel pump relay under the hood.

 

Sorry that it took a while for me to get back to you guy's. Here is what I came up with. I had to charge up two batteries because they where dead. Then the starter finally broke. I replaced it and got it running once again. I inspected the valve cover wire harness on two banks and found no broken, melted or loose connection or wires. I replaced two valve cover gaskets any way because the right bank was leaking oil. The problem appeared after driving the van no more than one mile. I brought a scan tool from work and performed a Buzz Test The scan tool came back with one code P1298 IDM Fault. Other code that I retraved from memory was P0470 Exhaust Pressure Sensor Fault. I think that once I will replace the IDM other code will clear up. Do you know any cheap website with IDM? Thank you for all your time.

 

this dont have anything to do with your codes but , it sounds like the vans been sitting for a while. i think i remember reading some where that the vans have a metal fuel tank that has some type of painted inner lining that can break down and start to flake away. if this is the case then you could be sucking those flakes into the fuel system and starving it of fuel. you could try to disconnect the fuel line from the back of the fuel pump, and with the fuel cap off, blow compressed air back to the tank in an attempt to clear any blockage. if that helps, you will need to drop the tank to clean things out. also , if you do have the tank out. do the hutch mod. good luck. all ya, almost forgot. car-part.com

 

I know that the fuel filter and water separator filter has not been changed. I will replace those filters. I have ohmed out fuel injector's at the harness of IDM. The reading was supposed to be around 3-4 ohms my reading have been recorder as 2.8 ohms on all 8 fuel injectors. I think that checking the fuel and oil pressure will be my next step before I will condmn and replace IDM. If there is any thing else that I might be missing to checkout ?

 

This thread was intended as a list of things to check before buying the vehicle, but it is still a good idea to look these things over even afterward.

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